a few years Mervyn's role as Crown legal adviser effectively lapsed. From then on the Attorney General of Ireland was always regarded as the senior Law Officer. He was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons in May 1661 when again member for Tyrone, against the wishes of the King, who would have preferred William Domville. It was said that his fellow MPs chose him for his eloquence "of a style much admired at the time", full of Scriptural allusions and quotations from the Classics, mixed up with quotations from recent legal writers like Sir Edward Coke. Shortly thereafter he went to England for nine months between September 1661 and May 1662 to take part in negotiations on the Act of Settlement 1662. When he returned he played an influential role in the House and was at the same time involved in the Court of Claims set up under the Act of Settlement to adjudicate land claims. This led to charges of corruption against him. He was Speaker until the dissolution of Parliament in 1666, although he had greatly offended the King, and his loyalty to the Crown was deeply suspect. He continued with his legal practice, but his later years are rather obscure. Family He married, firstly, in 1638, Mary Dillon, daughter of John Dillon of Castle Dillon, and widow of Francis Windsor. He married, secondly, Martha, (died 1685), daughter of Sir Hugh Clotworthy and Mary Langford, and sister of the leading politician John Clotworthy, 1st Viscount Massereene. By the two marriages he had at least three sons and two daughters, including Henry, the eldest son and heir, Hugh and Guy. His principal seat was Trillick Castle (or Castle Tuchet), County Tyrone, which remained in the Mervyn family for several generations. Reputation According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Opinions concerning Mervyn, both in his own day and since, have been various, but rarely complimentary, with frequent accusations of corruption, lack of scruple, or the pursuit of self-interest above principle". References External links Speakers of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) 1675 deaths 1600s births 17th-century Irish lawyers Irish MPs 1661–1666 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Tyrone constituencies Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) Alumni of King's Inns